About this series

This series represents one of the most authoritative and comprehensive sources of data on childcare in the UK, and helps monitor the government's National Childcare Strategy.

NatCen carried out the first three years of the most recent set of surveys in 2004, 2007 and 2008. The fourth study is taking place in 2009. You can:

History of the series

In 2004, NatCen carried out the Childcare and Early Years survey, which combined two previous survey series: Parents’ Demand for Childcare and Parents of Three- and Four-Year-Old Children.

Around 8,000 interviews were conducted with parents of children under 15 across England and Wales, randomly selected from Child Benefit records. These included a boosted sample of parents of three- and four-year-old children.

In the 2004 survey, we found that more families are now using childcare and early years provision, with the rise largely explained by an increase in the use of formal provision. Since the previous survey in 2001, there has been a ten percentage point rise in the number of parents who stated that they had used formal childcare in the previous week, from 31% to 41%.

This is an indication of policy success as initiatives have focused largely on formal childcare and early years provision. Integral to many policies is a commitment to ‘affordable’ provision. We found that childcare is reasonably affordable to some, but less affordable – and sometimes a barrier to its use – for others, particularly in London, where the hourly cost of childcare is substantially higher than elsewhere.

Surveys in this series are all funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Welsh element of the study was funded by the Welsh Assembly. The Parents’ Demand for Childcare survey was carried out in 1999 and 2001 (in 2000 NatCen was commissioned by the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department to carry out the same survey in Scotland), and the Parents of Three- and Four-Year-Old Children survey was carried out annually by NatCen between 1997 and 2002.

What the series covers

Information is collected about the types of childcare that parents use, including informal options (such as relatives and friends) as well as formal provision (such as nurseries, playgroups and childminders).

The series also covers in considerable depth the interface between paid work and childcare among different groups, and covers issues such as: work and childcare at atypical hours, access to family friendly arrangements, attitudes to work and parenting, and barriers and facilitators to paid employment.

Series timeline

March 2000 - Baseline Parents Demand for Childcare Survey published
May 2002 - Repeat Parents Demand for Childcare Survey published
November 2003 - Parents Demand for Childcare Survey redesigned to become the Childcare and Early Years Survey
March 2006 - First Childcare and Early Years Survey published
May 2008 - Second Childcare and Early Years Survey published
July 2009 - Third Childcare and Early Years Survey published
June 2009 - Fieldwork starts for fourth survey
December 2009 - Fieldwork ends for fourth survey
September 2010 - Fourth Childcare and Early Years Survey published